Christie backs off push for high-court nominee

By MICHAEL LINHORST

state house bureau |

The Record

Governor Christie, who has been fighting for a year to seat two nominees on the state Supreme Court, retreated in a deal with Senate Democrats, the target of his frequent attacks in an impasse that threatened the governor’s claim that he is a bipartisan deal-maker.

“The Senate president is abrogating his duties and responsibilities,” Christie said at a news conference last January, a month and a half after he nominated Robert Hanna to the high court. “How about taking a couple of minutes to actually do your job?”

But the Senate still hasn’t held a hearing on Hanna’s nomination, and now Christie appears to be abandoning the effort. As part of a deal with Democrats that began to become public on Friday, Christie plans to nominate Hanna to a lower court instead.

The contours of the deal remain unclear, as does the fate of the other Supreme Court nominee, David Bauman. But it appears Christie and Democrats have agreed to eight Superior Court nominees — including Hanna; John Hoffman, Christie’s acting attorney general; Timothy Lydon, the executive director of the Senate Democratic Office; and John Matheussen, head of the Delaware River Port Authority, whom Christie harshly criticized in 2010 as the governor tried to force reforms at the authority.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he plans to consider “a number of these nominations” next week. He said he was unaware whether Supreme Court nominations played into the agreement.

The deal comes as Christie faces a bevy of political considerations. His yearslong battle with Democrats over the ideological composition of the Supreme Court, where two of seven seats remain vacant, continues. It threatens to weaken the image he has built, as a governor more concerned about getting things done than about partisan squabbling, just as he tries to position himself for a presidential run in 2016. The ongoing controversy over the decision by Christie’s top appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge — which some Democrats saw as politically motivated — adds to the partisan rancor between the governor and the Legislature’s majority party.

And the Supreme Court fight may become even more heated when Chief Justice Stuart Rabner’s term ends in June. Last year, Christie derided Rabner, who previously worked under Christie when the governor was U.S. attorney, as a liberal and an “activist.” Some political observers expect Christie will not reappoint Rabner to the bench — an unprecedented move almost certain to inflame Democrats.

With that battle still to come, Christie’s deal with Democrats and nomination of Hanna to a lower court is likely strategic, said Patrick Murray, who directs the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

“Christie has to look ahead to what he’s going to do about Rabner, so he’s got to start planning for it now,” Murray said. “This is why watching the Christie administration is so interesting. It’s a chess match, and we’ll have to wait and see what the next move is.”

Murray suggested Christie may plan to nominate Hanna to replace Rabner as the Supreme Court’s chief justice, with Hanna’s nomination to the Superior Court as an intermediate step.

Representatives of the governor and of the Senate president, Stephen Sweeney, declined to comment on the deal between the two. Hanna did not respond to a request for comment.

Hanna, currently the president of the state’s Board of Public Utilities, and Bauman, a Superior Court judge, were each nominated to the Supreme Court in December 2012 and have awaited a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing ever since.

Their nominations expire Jan. 14, the end of the Legislature’s current two-year session. The Judiciary Committee has one more hearing scheduled before that date, but neither Supreme Court nomination is on the agenda

Christie has gotten one nominee onto the court in recent months. Faustino Fernandez-Vina won confirmation in November. Fernandez-Vina, a Republican, was nominated to replace another Republican, leaving the court’s ideological balance intact.

In 2012, Judiciary Committee Democrats rejected two of the governor’s nominees, Bruce Harris and Phillip Kwon, arguing that they would shift the partisan balance of the court too far to the right. Hanna and Bauman have been held up out of the same concern. Bauman is a Republican and Hanna is registered as an unaffiliated voter.

The governor has made criticism of the Supreme Court a hallmark of his administration, repeatedly accusing it of judicial activism. And even as a candidate in 2009, he campaigned on his intention to remake the court if elected governor.

After taking office in early 2010, Christie didn’t wait long to do so. He shocked many in Trenton when he declined to reappoint Justice John Wallace Jr., a Democrat, when Wallace came up for tenure review. Breaking from years of tradition, Christie said he did so to send a message to the remaining justices.

Democrats, in response, would not allow Christie to fill the spot vacated by Wallace, and Christie instead had to wait until 2011 to see his first high court nominee, Republican Anne Patterson, seated on the bench. She replaced retiring fellow Republican Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, not Wallace.

Last year, a second court vacancy opened up after the retirement of longtime Justice Virginia Long, a Democrat. Those two seats — Long’s and Wallace’s — remain empty.

Christie backs off push for high-court nominee

Governor Christie, who has been fighting for a year to seat two nominees on the state Supreme Court, retreated in a deal with Senate Democrats, the target of his frequent attacks in an impasse that threatened the governor’s claim that he is a bipartisan deal-maker.

“The Senate president is abrogating his duties and responsibilities,” Christie said at a news conference last January, a month and a half after he nominated Robert Hanna to the high court. “How about taking a couple of minutes to actually do your job?”

But the Senate still hasn’t held a hearing on Hanna’s nomination, and now Christie appears to be abandoning the effort. As part of a deal with Democrats that began to become public on Friday, Christie plans to nominate Hanna to a lower court instead.

The contours of the deal remain unclear, as does the fate of the other Supreme Court nominee, David Bauman. But it appears Christie and Democrats have agreed to eight Superior Court nominees — including Hanna; John Hoffman, Christie’s acting attorney general; Timothy Lydon, the executive director of the Senate Democratic Office; and John Matheussen, head of the Delaware River Port Authority, whom Christie harshly criticized in 2010 as the governor tried to force reforms at the authority.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he plans to consider “a number of these nominations” next week. He said he was unaware whether Supreme Court nominations played into the agreement.

The deal comes as Christie faces a bevy of political considerations. His yearslong battle with Democrats over the ideological composition of the Supreme Court, where two of seven seats remain vacant, continues. It threatens to weaken the image he has built, as a governor more concerned about getting things done than about partisan squabbling, just as he tries to position himself for a presidential run in 2016. The ongoing controversy over the decision by Christie’s top appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge — which some Democrats saw as politically motivated — adds to the partisan rancor between the governor and the Legislature’s majority party.

And the Supreme Court fight may become even more heated when Chief Justice Stuart Rabner’s term ends in June. Last year, Christie derided Rabner, who previously worked under Christie when the governor was U.S. attorney, as a liberal and an “activist.” Some political observers expect Christie will not reappoint Rabner to the bench — an unprecedented move almost certain to inflame Democrats.

With that battle still to come, Christie’s deal with Democrats and nomination of Hanna to a lower court is likely strategic, said Patrick Murray, who directs the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

“Christie has to look ahead to what he’s going to do about Rabner, so he’s got to start planning for it now,” Murray said. “This is why watching the Christie administration is so interesting. It’s a chess match, and we’ll have to wait and see what the next move is.”

Murray suggested Christie may plan to nominate Hanna to replace Rabner as the Supreme Court’s chief justice, with Hanna’s nomination to the Superior Court as an intermediate step.

Representatives of the governor and of the Senate president, Stephen Sweeney, declined to comment on the deal between the two. Hanna did not respond to a request for comment.

Hanna, currently the president of the state’s Board of Public Utilities, and Bauman, a Superior Court judge, were each nominated to the Supreme Court in December 2012 and have awaited a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing ever since.

Their nominations expire Jan. 14, the end of the Legislature’s current two-year session. The Judiciary Committee has one more hearing scheduled before that date, but neither Supreme Court nomination is on the agenda

Christie has gotten one nominee onto the court in recent months. Faustino Fernandez-Vina won confirmation in November. Fernandez-Vina, a Republican, was nominated to replace another Republican, leaving the court’s ideological balance intact.

In 2012, Judiciary Committee Democrats rejected two of the governor’s nominees, Bruce Harris and Phillip Kwon, arguing that they would shift the partisan balance of the court too far to the right. Hanna and Bauman have been held up out of the same concern. Bauman is a Republican and Hanna is registered as an unaffiliated voter.

The governor has made criticism of the Supreme Court a hallmark of his administration, repeatedly accusing it of judicial activism. And even as a candidate in 2009, he campaigned on his intention to remake the court if elected governor.

After taking office in early 2010, Christie didn’t wait long to do so. He shocked many in Trenton when he declined to reappoint Justice John Wallace Jr., a Democrat, when Wallace came up for tenure review. Breaking from years of tradition, Christie said he did so to send a message to the remaining justices.

Democrats, in response, would not allow Christie to fill the spot vacated by Wallace, and Christie instead had to wait until 2011 to see his first high court nominee, Republican Anne Patterson, seated on the bench. She replaced retiring fellow Republican Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, not Wallace.

Last year, a second court vacancy opened up after the retirement of longtime Justice Virginia Long, a Democrat. Those two seats — Long’s and Wallace’s — remain empty.